Travis Briscoe returned to competition this weekend after sitting out the final round of last weekend's event in Des Moines due to a torn ACL. Briscoe was soundly criticized on last week's telecast by former bull rider J.W. Hart, who subsequently talked with Briscoe on the phone and exhorted him to return to competition so as not to lose points in his quest for the world title. Briscoe decided to do just that. Unfortunately, after his first ride, his knee did not hold up and he was advised by Dr. Tandy Freeman, the director of the PBR medical team, not to continue. As Ty Murray said in a subsequent interview, the problem with an ACL injury is not the pain. The problem is that it destabilizes the entire knee. At this level of bull riding, competing through pain is a given. Jeopardizing one's season, career, or life just to show that you are tough is foolhardy, not brave. I'll say it again, I love J.W. Hart. He's funny, humble, and sincere, and he knows bull riding, but I think he had it wrong on this one. At any rate, opinions collided there, and raised some important issues about riding, riding hurt, what's smart, what's ego, and when to sit one out.
Another massive collision, this time of the head versus horn variety, occurred when Perfect Poison flung Austin Meier off to the side and clipped his head with a horn, knocking Austin's helmet clear off. Austin proceeded to hit the dirt hard, head bouncing off the ground. That dirt isn't all that deep (8") , it's packed hard, and that double head slam was hard to watch. One of the bullfighters, Frank Newsom, rushed in and pulled Austin from the ground and out of harm's way. I also witnessed something I hadn't seen before. For those of you who don't watch bull riding, there is always a horseman in the arena. His job is to lasso the bulls who decide to be recalcitrant about leaving after their job is done. About three seconds after Austin's head hit the ground, horse and rider had come the length of the arena and planted themselves between the bull and Meier. When you watch a sport that involves mortal men trying to ride 2000 pound bulls, wrecks and injuries are part of the deal. This was one of those moments - the hit, the bullfighter, the horse and the horseman - that make bull riding exciting and dramatic and worth watching. Austin walked out of the arena.
And lastly, J.B. Mauney was finally released from the hospital after a week and two surgeries following a collapsed lung after his chest hit a bull's horn in Des Moines. As Tandy Freeman once said, "wimps don't make it this far."
